1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing device and an image processing method for performing image processing as well as an image sensing apparatus utilizing them.
2. Description of Related Art
As an image processing technique for converting a low-resolution image into a high-resolution image, super-resolution processing is proposed. An apparatus for performing the super-resolution processing refers to a plurality of low-resolution images having displacements (position displacements) and performs a resolution increasing process of the low-resolution images based on a displacement between the low-resolution images and image data of the plurality of low-resolution images so as to generate one high-resolution image. This resolution increasing process is performed with respect to a reference image selected from the plurality of low-resolution images, and a calculation of the displacement and other processes are performed with respect to the reference image. Therefore, contents of the obtained high-resolution image (including its image quality and composition) depend on the reference image largely. Note that the reference image is also referred to as a reference frame, a target frame, or the like.
Generally speaking, the reference image is to be an image generated first in an image sequence obtained by continuous shooting and arranged in a time sequence manner.
Since the contents of the high-resolution image obtained by the resolution increasing process depend on the reference image largely as described above, it is necessary to devise a method of selecting the reference image in order to obtain a desired high-resolution image.